New Beginnings
by PKMN Trainer Daisuke
Summary: Ash has not seen his friends for years. Journeying on his own, he decides to visit his old friend Ritchie in Frodomar City. Instead he finds a friend of Ritchie’s named Daisuke, whom he agrees to help become a Pokémon trainer.


New Beginnings

**~.~.~.~**

**Ash has not seen his friends for several years. Journeying on his own, he decides to visit his old friend Ritchie in Frodomar City. Instead he finds a friend of Ritchie's named Daisuke, whom he agrees to help become a Pok****émon trainer. Ash will now travel familiar roads and will have to face his past.**

**~.~.~.~**

Smoke rose from the top of many buildings as a young man with black hair walked into Frodomar City with a Pikachu on his shoulder. He looked very calm with no expression on his face as he walked toward a busy restaurant. "Are you hungry, Pikachu?"

"Pi!" exclaimed the electric mouse. The young man lightly chuckled as he entered the restaurant. To his surprise, there was a crowd of excited people surrounding somebody. It was a man with spiky, silver-colored hair. He wore a black leather jacket and jeans.

As soon as the young man with the Pikachu had entered the room, the man with silver hair shifted the gaze of his blue eyes to him immediately. He pushed through the crowd and walked toward the young man. "Hey you, what's your name?"

"My name is Ash Ketchum. What's yours?" replied Ash, wondering why this man was talking to him. Pikachu jumped down from his shoulder.

"The name's Trevor and you better remember it, because I'm a legend around here. I take it that you're new here. I can tell that you're strong though… I can sense it. So how about a Pokémon battle?" asked Trevor.

Ash smirked. "You sure know how to speak my language. All right, I accept your challenge. Just because you're a legend here doesn't mean you'll be able to beat me."

"We'll see about that," said Trevor. "Tell ya what… the loser will treat the winner to dinner at this very restaurant. Sound good?"

"Sure does," replied Ash. "You better prepare yourself."

~.~.~

A short, brown-haired man with glasses stood at the side of the battlefield, holding a green and red flag. Hundreds of people were gathered in the area, eager to watch Trevor battle the newcomer. The short man cleared his throat before speaking. "This battle will be fought in three rounds. Best two out of three! The legendary Pokémon trainer Trevor will be battling against a trainer named Ash. Trevor will choose his Pokémon first."

"Get ready Ash," said Trevor. "Here I come! I choose you, Gardevoir!"

Trevor threw a Poké Ball and with a flash of light, his Gardevoir appeared. The Psychic-type Pokémon got into a stance, ready to earn another victory for its trainer.

"That's a nice Gardevoir," commented Ash. "Let's see if it can defeat my Snorlax!"

In another flash of light, Ash's Snorlax appeared. Unlike Gardevoir, the Normal-type Pokémon just stood lazily.

"Gardevoir, use Thunderbolt!" shouted Trevor. Gardevoir briefly charged itself with electricity before unleashing it at its opponent.

"Hold your ground Snorlax!" yelled Ash.

"Snorlax!" replied the Pokémon as it braced itself. The Thunderbolt hit it directly, but had very little effect. "Snorlax."

"What?!" exclaimed Trevor with disbelief. "My Gardevoir's powerful Thunderbolt did almost nothing!"

Ash grinned. "My Snorlax has a high Special Defense, so all of your Gardevoir's attacks will do little damage. Snorlax, use Headbutt!"

"Stop it with Shadow Ball, Gardevoir!" yelled Trevor.

"Big mistake," said Ash. "You seem to be forgetting something."

"Crap! Ghost-type attacks don't affect Normal-type Pokémon!" realized Trevor.

The Shadow Ball attack went right through Snorlax as if it were a ghost and Snorlax made contact with Gardevoir, sending it flying.

"Use Hyper Beam, Snorlax!" yelled Ash.

"Snorlax!" yelled the Pokémon as an orange sphere began to form at its mouth.

"You seem to underestimate me, Ash," said Trevor. "I'm not stupid enough to let that happen. Gardevoir, use Psychic!"

Snorlax suddenly began to glow blue as it was lifted into the air. Gardevoir seemed to struggle, however, from Snorlax's weight. In addition, Snorlax wasn't too fazed and continued to charge Hyper Beam.

Ash laughed. "Snorlax isn't affected by special moves that much, as I said. It is also too heavy. All right, Snorlax, unleash the Hyper Beam!"

"Gardevoir, get out of the way!" shouted Trevor.

Gardevoir was too slow to react and was hit directly with a Hyper Beam. After dust clouds settled, Gardevoir lay motionless on the ground.

The short man on the side of the battlefield raised a flag. "Gardevoir is unable to battle!"

There were many gasps as the people of Frodomar City saw their legend lose the first round to the newcomer. They did not think that a trainer would be able to surpass Trevor.

"Return Gardevoir," said Trevor, returning the injured Pokémon to its Poké Ball. "I think it was I you underestimated you Ash. Everyone! This is no ordinary trainer! I thought so from the moment I saw him… and it has been proven so. Please, enjoy this battle while it lasts!"

Everyone cheered. "Trevor! Trevor! Trevor!"

"Return Snorlax," said Ash. He returned the Pokémon to its Poké Ball and put it on his belt. He then took a different Poké Ball. "All right Torterra, it's your time to shine!"

Torterra appeared with a flash of light and prepared itself for battle.

"That's a nice Torterra, Ash. Let's see how well it does against a Fire-type! I choose you, Blaziken!" shouted Trevor, throwing a Poké Ball.

"Blaze!" said Blaziken as it too got into a stance.

"Blaziken, use Blaze Kick!" yelled Trevor.

"Use Crunch, Torterra!" shouted Ash.

To everyone's surprise, Torterra crunched Blaziken's foot before the Blaze Kick hit it.

"Blaze!" yelled Blaziken. It was in pain.

Ash smirked. "Good job, Torterra. Now use Earthquake while holding Blaziken in place!"

Trevor frowned. "Blaziken, get out of its grasp! Try using Blaze Kick with your other foot!"

Blaziken did as Trevor wished but Torterra held its ground and Blaziken ended up falling. Torterra used Earthquake, letting Blaziken go. With not enough time to react, Blaziken took a direct hit and fainted.

A flag was raised. "Blaziken is no longer able to battle!"

There was a lot of murmuring in the crowd about this new trainer defeating the legendary Trevor. It was a rather exciting event. Trevor losing is not something that anyone had ever seen before.

Trevor sighed. "I already lost two rounds. Even if I win the next one, I still lose the entire match. Return, Blaziken."

Ash walked up to him and shook his hand. "That was a good job, Trevor. I'm just more experienced than many other trainers you'll find."

"I'll say," said Trevor. "All right, we had a deal. So let me treat you to dinner."

~.~.~

"So Ash, where are you from?" asked Trevor, looking down at his spaghetti as he twirled it around his fork.

"I'm from Pallet Town," said Ash. "This Pikachu was the starter Pokémon I got from Professor Oak."

"Ah, so you know Professor Oak? I hear that he's a great poet," replied Trevor.

Ash laughed. "In my honest opinion, his poems aren't really that great. Maybe he's improved over the years, though. I haven't seen him in a while."

Trevor looked up from his spaghetti. "He lives in Pallet Town though. Are you saying that you haven't been home in years?"

Ash nodded his head. "Yeah, I haven't seen anyone in a very long time. The reason I came to this city, actually, was to see if I could meet up with an old friend of mine. His name is Ritchie; do you know where he might live?"

"Hmm… I think I've heard of Ritchie. People have said that he's a great trainer. I've never met him though. I don't know where he lives," said Trevor. "I'm sure someone around here can tell you though."

"All right," said Ash. "Hey look, my food is here. It's time to dig in!"

~.~.~

After eating dinner, Ash said good bye to Trevor and started looking around for Ritchie. "I wonder where he could be. I never knew it could be this hard to find someone."

"Pika," replied Pikachu as it turned its head in different directions.

"Well we have time. Let's relax a bit. I saw a lake before entering the city, let's go there," said Ash. He walked out of Frodomar City and headed toward a big lake filled with many water Pokémon.

Upon arriving, Ash and Pikachu saw a young man about Ash's age sitting by the lake with a Totodile in front of him. He had black hair that was dyed blue in some areas. He wore a light grey shirt and dark grey pants, as well as a blue belt and blue shoes. As he heard Ash approaching, he turned around, revealing his blue eyes.

"Hey there," greeted Ash. "I'm Ash. Is that your Totodile?"

The young man smiled. "Hi, I'm Daisuke. And no, this is a wild Totodile. It's my friend. I come here often to visit it. You see, even though I've always wanted to become a Pokémon trainer, I never actually got started."

"Ah I see," said Ash. "I'm a Pokémon trainer. A rather experienced one, actually."

Daisuke's eyes lit up. "Really? Can I see your Pokémon?"

"Sure, I don't see why not," replied Ash. He took five Poké Balls from his belt and threw them in the air. Each one opened with a flash of white light.

Now standing beside Ash were Snorlax, Torterra, Charizard, Floatzel, Garchomp and, of course, Pikachu.

"Wow!" exclaimed Daisuke. "Your Pokémon are awesome! How did you get them all?"

Ash laughed. "Well, Pikachu here was my starter Pokémon. I caught Snorlax in the Orange Islands… he can be a bit of a pain though because of his feeding requirements."

"Snorlax," Snorlax lazily replied.

"Charizard was a Charmander when I got it; he was abandoned by his old trainer. Floatzel was a Buizel, but it wasn't originally mine either… an old friend of mine caught it."

Ash paused for a moment as thoughts of a young blue-haired girl entered his mind. He remembered their arguments, her contests, her Pokémon…

"We traded when Buizel showed more interest in battling than the contests my friend wanted to enter. Now it's a Floatzel, and it's a rather tough Pokémon!"

"Floatzel!" exclaimed Floatzel.

"Last but not least, Garchomp was a Gible when I got it. I helped it learn Draco Meteor and it decided that it wanted to stay with me."

Daisuke looked at all of the Pokémon in awe. "Wow, I really want to become a Pokémon trainer now. Maybe I'll eventually be able to defeat Ritchie."

"You know Ritchie?" asked Ash. "I came to Frodomar City to look for him. He's an old friend of mine. Can you tell me where he is?"

"He's a good friend of mine as well," said Daisuke. "He's not home right now. He's out on another journey. What did you need to see him for?"

"Oh, it isn't necessary that I see him," replied Ash. "It's just… I haven't seen any of my friends for years now. And one night I remembered how we promised each other to become Pokémon masters. I really missed him, so I wanted to stop by and visit."

"Years?" asked Daisuke. "Why haven't you been in contact with your friends?"

"It's a long story," said Ash. He decided to change the subject. "So, you want to be a trainer? Then I have a gift for you."

Ash reached into his backpack and opened one of the pockets on the side. He took out a Poké Ball and handed it to Daisuke.

"Whoa, a Poké Ball…" said Daisuke as he stared at the spherical object in his hand.

"Catch that Totodile and begin a journey. It's about time you do what you've wanted to do," said Ash. "Become a Pokémon trainer."

"But… I don't know how this trainer stuff works…" said Daisuke. "Hey… can I come along with you? You can be my mentor and help me become a Pokémon trainer!"

Ash thought about it for a few seconds before nodding his head. "Sure, I don't minding helping you. We'll leave first thing tomorrow."

"Totodile, will you join me and battle by my side?" Daisuke asked the small blue Pokémon.

"Totodile!" it exclaimed while jumping around. Daisuke threw the Poké Ball in the air and Totodile jumped up and touched it. The Poké Ball opened up and Totodile went inside.

"This is so awesome…" said Daisuke. "Hey Ash, you can stay at my place tonight. My mom is really cool so she'll be fine with it. Plus, she'll be happy about me going on a journey. She's been telling me to get out of the house for a while now."

Ash laughed. "That sounds good to me!"

He returned all of his Pokémon back into their Poké Balls. Daisuke picked up the Poké Ball that contained his new Totodile. Both of them walked back to Frodomar City together, excited for the next day.

**~.~.~.~**

**Oh hello. Please review. Please suggest things. All input is welcome.**


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